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| {{About|the clan|the film|Bhonsle (film)|other uses}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Bhonsle (clan)]] |
| {{Redirect2|Bhosle|Bhosale|other uses|Bhosle (disambiguation)|and|Bhosale (disambiguation)}}
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| {{short description|Maratha clan}}
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| {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
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| {{Infobox tribe
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| | name = Bhonsle
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| | type = [[Maratha]] clan
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| | image =
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| | alt =
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| | caption =
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| | ethnicity = Indian
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| | location = [[Maharashtra]], [[Tamil Nadu]]
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| | descended =
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| | population =
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| | demonym =
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| | branches =
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| | language = [[Marathi language|Marathi]]
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| | religion = [[Hinduism]]
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| | surnames =
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| }}
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| The '''Bhonsle''' (or '''Bhonsale''', '''Bhosale''', '''Bhosle''')<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=51caAAAAYAAJ&q=bhonsla|title=Coinage of the Bhonsla Rajas of Nagpur|first=Prashant P.|last=Kulkarni|date=6 June 1990|publisher=Indian Coin Society}}</ref> are a prominent group within the [[Maratha clan system]]. They claim descent from the [[Sisodia]] [[Rajput]]s but were likely [[Kunbi]] tiller-plainsmen.<ref name="S1998">{{cite book|author=Singh K S|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lZuAAAAMAAJ|title=India's communities|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-19-563354-2|page=2211}}</ref>
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| ==History==
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| In the opinion of [[Barbara D. Metcalf]], [[Susan Bayly]], [[Abraham Eraly]], and [[Jadunath Sarkar]], Bhonsles originated from the Deccani tiller-plainsmen.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Eraly2000">{{cite book|author=Abraham Eraly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04ellRQx4nMC&pg=PA435|title=Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Mughals|publisher=Penguin Books India|year=2000|isbn=978-0-14-100143-2|pages=435}}</ref><ref name="Sarkar1992">{{cite book|author=Jadunath Sarkar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYFrgILWbIgC&pg=PA158|title=Shivaji and His Times|publisher=Orient Longman|year=1992|isbn=978-81-250-1347-1|pages=158}}</ref> Known as [[Kunbi]] and/or [[Maratha]], they were located outside the peripheries of [[Brahmin|Brahminism]] and did not form any caste.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bayly|first=Susan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC|title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age|date=2001-02-22|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521798426|pages=57-59|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Eraly2000" /> Dominic Vendell as well as [[Ananya Vajpeyi]] note the Bhonsles to be a lineage.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite thesis|last=Vendell|first=Dominic|title=Scribes and the Vocation of Politics in the Maratha Empire, 1708-1818|date=2018|publisher=Columbia University}}</ref> However, according to [[Ramchandra Chintaman Dhere|R. C. Dhere]], Bhonsles are the descendants of [[Hoysala]]s and [[Yadavas of Devagiri|Seuna Yadavas]], who were originally cow-herding pastoralists.<ref name="varma-saberwal">{{Cite book|last=Vajpeyi|first=Ananya|title=Traditions in Motion: Religion and Society in History|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195669152|editor-last1=Varma|editor-first1=Supriya|pages=239-268|language=en|chapter=Excavating Identity through Tradition: Who was Shivaji?|editor-last2=Saberwal|editor-first2=Satish}}</ref>
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| The earliest accepted members of the Bhonsles are Mudhoji Bhonsle and his kin Rupaji Bhonsle, who were the village headman (pāṭīl) of [[Hingani]] — this branch has been since known as Hinganikar Bhonsles.<ref name=":3" /><nowiki>{{ They seem to have split soon, who claimed an ancestral right to the post of district steward (deśmukhī) of Kadewalit — Suryaji Bhonsle during the reign of </nowiki>[[Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I|Ahmad Nizam Shah I]] (early 1490s), and his son Sharafji Bhonsle during the conquest of the region by [[Daniyal Mirza]] (1599) — this branch has been since known as Kadewalit Bhonsles.<ref name=":3" />{{Efn|The precise familial relation between Mudhoji/Rupali and Suryaji is unclear.}}{{Efn|Stewart Gordon and other scholars deem the "deśmukhī" to have served as a 'hinge' between the local populace and the imperial authority which frequently changed. Without their loyalty, commanding authority in newly conquered territories was difficult.}}
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| The next significant Bhonsle was probably [[Maloji Bhosale]] from the Hinganikar branch.
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| === Shivaji and claims ===
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| By 1670s, [[Shivaji]] had acquired extensive territory and wealth from his campaigns.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> But, lacking a formal crown, he had no operational legitimacy to rule his ''de facto'' domain and technically, remained subject to his Mughal (or Deccan Sultanate) overlords; in the hierarchy of power, Shivaji's position remained similar to fellow Maratha chieftains.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="varma-saberwal" /><ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Gordon|first=Stewart|title=Shivaji (1630–80) and the Maratha polity|date=1993|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/marathas-16001818/shivaji-163080-and-the-maratha-polity/77CF65447181F279BA73A6A5D6B1E048|work=The Marathas 1600–1818|pages=86-87|series=The New Cambridge History of India|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26883-7|access-date=2021-06-26}}</ref>{{efn|Most of the great Maratha Jahagirdar families in the service of Adilshahi strongly opposed Shivaji in his early years. These included families such as the Ghadge, More, Mohite, Ghorpade, Shirke, and Nimbalkar.{{Sfn|Daniel Jasper|2003|p=215}}}} Also, he was often opposed by the orthodox Brahmin community of Maharashtra.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /> A coronation sanctioned by the Brahmins was thus planned, in a bid to proclaim sovereignty and legitimize his rule.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name="BaviskarAttwood2013" />
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| However, on proposing the Brahmins of his court to have him proclaimed as the rightful king, a controversy erupted: the regnal status was reserved for those belonging to the [[kshatriya]] [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]].<ref name="Gandhi1999">{{cite book|author=Rajmohan Gandhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVqP54UEe4QC&pg=PA110|title=Revenge and Reconciliation|publisher=Penguin Books India|year=1999|isbn=978-0-14-029045-5|pages=110–}}</ref><ref name="Allison2011" /> Shivaji's grandfather Maloji had been a tiller-headman, Shivaji did not wear the sacred thread, and his marriage was not in accordance with the Kshatriya customs; the Brahmins categorised him as a [[shudra]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name="BaviskarAttwood2013">{{cite book|author1=Baviskar|first=B. S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVQtBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA395|title=Inside-Outside: Two Views of Social Change in Rural India|author2=Attwood|first2=D. W.|date=30 October 2013|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-81-321-1865-7|pages=395|chapter=Caste Barriers to Initiative and Innovation}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Kruijtzer|first=Gijs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTTJa0usl80C|title=Xenophobia in Seventeenth-century India|date=2009|publisher=Leiden University Press|isbn=9789087280680|pages=143|language=en}}</ref> Postponing his coronation, he had his secretary Balaji Avji Chitnis sent to the Sisodiyas of Mewar for inspection of the royal genealogies; Avji returned with a favorable finding.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /> Gaga Bhatt, a famed Brahmin of [[Varanasi|Banaras]], was then hired to ratify Chitnis' find, and "Shivrajbhushan" was crafted.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /><ref name="Allison2011">{{cite book|last=Busch|first=Allison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dl0sbzehWvAC&pg=PA191|title=Poetry of Kings: The Classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-19-976592-8|pages=190-191}}</ref>{{Efn|Gaga Bhatt was a preeminent legal scholar, whose scholarship focused on the relative status of different varnas across different regions. He hailed from Maharashtra.}}
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| The coronation was finally re-executed in June 1674.<ref name="varma-saberwal" />{{Efn|Contemporary Dutch East India Company archives indicate that even then, Shivaji's claim was contested twice at the ceremony.}} Designed by Bhatt, who employed traditional Hindu imagery in an unprecedented scale, the first phase had Shivaji penance for having lived as a Maratha, despite being a Kshatriya.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name="Keay2011">{{cite book|author=John Keay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IquM4BrJ4YC&pg=PT565|title=India: A History|date=12 April 2011|publisher=Atlantic|isbn=978-0-8021-9550-0|pages=565}}</ref> Then came the sacred thread ceremony ('upanayana') followed by the coronation ('abhisheka') — in what Vajpeyi deems as a public spectacle of enormous expense to herald the rebirth of Shivaji as a Kshatriya king.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /> Panegyrics composed by court-poets during these spans (and afterward) reinforced onto the public memory that Shivaji (and the Bhonsles) indeed belonged from the Sisodiyas.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /><ref name="Allison2011" />
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| The claims to Rajput ancestry however vanished from the family's subsequent projections of identity.<ref name="varma-saberwal" />
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| ==== Accuracy ====
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| The accuracy of the claims remain disputed.
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| Vajpeyi notes the "veridical status" of Chitnis' finds to be not determinable to "historical certainty" — the links were tenuous at best and inventive at worst.<ref name="varma-saberwal" /> Shivaji was not a Rajput and the sole purpose of the lineage was to guarantee Shivaji's consecration as a Kshatriya, in a tactic that had clear parallels to [[rajputisation]].<ref name="varma-saberwal" />{{Efn|Vajpeyi notes that Shahaji had once used the term Rajput to describe himself in a letter to Adil Shah. She however interprets the term to signify an exalted royal status rather than any connection with the Rajput clans.}} She however found the summary rejection of Shivaji's ancestry claims in modern historiographical literature to often stem from a Brahminical anti-Maratha perspective, imbibed from the Peshwas.<ref name="varma-saberwal" />
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| Sarkar as well as [[Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade|V. K. Rajwade]] found the genealogy to be fabricated, as did [[John Keay]].<ref name="Sarkar1992" /><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Krshnaji Ananta Sabhasada|url=https://archive.org/details/sivachhatrapatib00krshrich|title=Siva Chhatrapati : being a translation of Sabhasad Bakhar with extracts from Chitnis and Sivadigvijya, with notes|last2=Sen|first2=Surendra Nath|date=1920|publisher=Calcutta : University of Calcutta|pages=260, 261}}</ref><ref name="Keay2011" /> [[Allison Busch]] adopts a similar stance.<ref name="Allison2011" /> [[Stewart N. Gordon]] does not pass any judgement but notes Bhatt to be a "creative Brahmin".<ref name="varma-saberwal" /><ref name=":1" />{{Efn|In a footnote, Winks mentions of two letters, where Shivaji had referred to himself as a Rajput.}} [[Govind Sakharam Sardesai|G. S. Sardesai]] notes that the descent is "not authentically proved".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sardesai|first=G. S.|title=New History of the Marathas|publisher=Phoenic Publications|year=1946|volume=1|pages=46|chapter=Shahji: The Rising Sun}}</ref>{{Efn|Sardesai noted that the claims were supported by some 'firman's in possession of the Raja of Mudhol but many scholars [unidentified] considered them to be forged.}} [[André Wink]] deems that the Sisodia genealogical claim is destined to remain disputed forever.<ref name=":2" />
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| == Princely States ==
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| [[Akkalkot State]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kulkarni|first=Sumitra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYOSHaZnBy8C&pg=PA44|title=The Satara Raj, 1818-1848: A Study in History, Administration, and Culture|publisher=Mittal Publications|year=1995|isbn=9788170995814}}</ref> [[Sawantwadi State]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=6 June 2001|title=Portuguese Studies Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_4jAQAAIAAJ&q=sawantwadi+bhonsle+clan+rulers|publisher=International Conference Group on Portugal}}</ref> and [[Barshi]]<ref name="akola.nic.in">{{cite web|title=The Gazetteers Department|url=http://akola.nic.in/gazetteers/maharashtra/places_Barshi%20Takli.html|work=akola.nic.in}}</ref> were amongst the prominent states ruled by the Bhonsles.
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| ==See also==
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| *[[List of Maratha dynasties and states]]
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| *[[List of people involved in the Maratha Empire]]
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| == Notes ==
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| {{Notelist}}
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist}}
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| {{Maratha Empire}}
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| [[Category:Maharashtra]]
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| [[Category:Maratha clans]]
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| [[Category:Marathi-language surnames]]
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| [[Category:Hindu dynasties]]
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| [[Category:Indian surnames]]
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